LP tracing distortion arises because cutter and stylus follow different geometric paths

Evidence

Tracing distortions were significant. LP masters are cut with a flat fronted chisel and then played with a conical or elliptical stylus, meaning that the path followed by the stylus is different from that of the cutter. The cutter also follows a radial straight-line path, while pivoted tone arms scan an arc, causing misalignment over much of the recorded surface. Signal manipulations during the disc mastering process attempt to compensate for some of these, including amplitude compression and spectral manipulations to avoid stylus mistracking (momentarily losing contact with the groove walls) in the inner grooves where classical music often reaches a climax. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 153

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the geometric/physical origin of tracing distortion and stylus mistracking — core psychoacoustic-relevant transducer mechanics.
• CANDY: The inner-groove climax problem is a fun, compact trivia that explains why classical LPs get compressed at the loud end.